In this observation, pay attention to how your teacher manages his or her classroom. What types of disruptions, if any, occur while you're visiting? How do they set the class in motion? How do they deal with interruptions (from the outside) and disruptions (from their students)? Determine whether there are students in the classes that you will teach that are especially troublesome. Ask your CT how he or she addresses these students' needs. Reflect on your "vision" of an ideal science classroom. What classroom policies will you try to implement in YOUR classroom? How does your vision align with your teaching philosophy?
In this reflection I'm going to discuss the management of both my placements - first, Ms. Loomis at Narragansett Pier Middle School, and then Mr. Bruneau at North Kingstown High School.
In Ms. Loomis' class, interruptions and distractions are commonplace. This has nothing to do with her classroom management style, I believe, and everything to do with the nature of middle school aged children. After spending a lot of time in her class, I have found that it takes a saint's patience to effectively teach middle schoolers. The students are always full of energy, but they become all the more difficult to direct as the day goes on. Students are constantly talking to one another and need frequent reminders to stay quiet when the situation requires it. One thing I have noticed that keeps them quiet is reading passages together as a class. When one student reads aloud, the others are quiet. Many willingly volunteer to read.
One thing I have found that is extremely interesting is the nature of some of the students who cause disruptions. Many of them do it for the attention of their peers or other reasons. They don't talk out or act silly to drive their teachers nuts - I can tell that most of them genuinely like their teachers! The irritation their teachers might feel is just an unfortunate side effect. I find that understanding the reasons behind student misbehavior make that misbehavior a lot less apt to irritate me. Most of the behavioral problems are not genuinely serious concerns, more like frequent minor irritations. Ms. Loomis handles most of these minor irritations with a Zen-like quality that I hope to emulate, and her class never gets completely out of control. I have identified several students that I think will be a challenge - and the interesting thing is that these are not at all the students I thought would be the challenge in my first few weeks of being part of Ms. Loomis' classroom. Overall, I have found that dropping your attention or guard with a middle school class for even a few seconds can threaten to derail your next five to ten minutes!
Mr. Bruneau's classes are entirely different. Only a few short years out of the eighth grade, and these tenth graders are almost entirely opposite my middle school students. They can focus for much longer, and don't require constant redirection. Classroom management within the high school setting seems much easier and more cut-and-dry than the middle school. The factor of mutual respect is much more important, as Mr. Bruneau has demonstrated to me. He stays honest and fair with the students, which tends to work out fine. I have not had any major issues with any one particular student in any of Mr. Bruneau's classes. Overall, even when I have run classes or portions of classes by myself, the students mostly stay focused, and don't cause any disruptions. Although I believe I'm going to have to work hard at middle-level classroom management, the high school level seems a lot more natural to me at this point. I'm going to take care not to be lax with this, of course, but at this point I feel much more relaxed and capable in front of high schoolers. My ideal classroom is a zone of mutual respect between the teacher and the student, and I'm going to take care to make this type of environment the everyday situation in my classroom.
In this reflection I'm going to discuss the management of both my placements - first, Ms. Loomis at Narragansett Pier Middle School, and then Mr. Bruneau at North Kingstown High School.
In Ms. Loomis' class, interruptions and distractions are commonplace. This has nothing to do with her classroom management style, I believe, and everything to do with the nature of middle school aged children. After spending a lot of time in her class, I have found that it takes a saint's patience to effectively teach middle schoolers. The students are always full of energy, but they become all the more difficult to direct as the day goes on. Students are constantly talking to one another and need frequent reminders to stay quiet when the situation requires it. One thing I have noticed that keeps them quiet is reading passages together as a class. When one student reads aloud, the others are quiet. Many willingly volunteer to read.
One thing I have found that is extremely interesting is the nature of some of the students who cause disruptions. Many of them do it for the attention of their peers or other reasons. They don't talk out or act silly to drive their teachers nuts - I can tell that most of them genuinely like their teachers! The irritation their teachers might feel is just an unfortunate side effect. I find that understanding the reasons behind student misbehavior make that misbehavior a lot less apt to irritate me. Most of the behavioral problems are not genuinely serious concerns, more like frequent minor irritations. Ms. Loomis handles most of these minor irritations with a Zen-like quality that I hope to emulate, and her class never gets completely out of control. I have identified several students that I think will be a challenge - and the interesting thing is that these are not at all the students I thought would be the challenge in my first few weeks of being part of Ms. Loomis' classroom. Overall, I have found that dropping your attention or guard with a middle school class for even a few seconds can threaten to derail your next five to ten minutes!
Mr. Bruneau's classes are entirely different. Only a few short years out of the eighth grade, and these tenth graders are almost entirely opposite my middle school students. They can focus for much longer, and don't require constant redirection. Classroom management within the high school setting seems much easier and more cut-and-dry than the middle school. The factor of mutual respect is much more important, as Mr. Bruneau has demonstrated to me. He stays honest and fair with the students, which tends to work out fine. I have not had any major issues with any one particular student in any of Mr. Bruneau's classes. Overall, even when I have run classes or portions of classes by myself, the students mostly stay focused, and don't cause any disruptions. Although I believe I'm going to have to work hard at middle-level classroom management, the high school level seems a lot more natural to me at this point. I'm going to take care not to be lax with this, of course, but at this point I feel much more relaxed and capable in front of high schoolers. My ideal classroom is a zone of mutual respect between the teacher and the student, and I'm going to take care to make this type of environment the everyday situation in my classroom.